The bodies of two dead Australian soldiers, Sapper Darren Smith and Sapper Jacob Moerland, are expected to arrive in Brisbane tomorrow.

The pair had been returning from a foot patrol looking for weapons in the Mirabad Valley when a roadside bomb exploded, killing them and their bomb-sniffer dog, Herbie,

Predictably, Australia’s Greens Party have taken this opportunity to push for withdrawal of all Australian troops from Afghanistan. Senator Brown says he believes the majority of Australians agree.

So are there votes in this sorry event for the Greens?

What do Australians really think?

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Before getting on to that, we might ask, what do the people of Afghanistan think?

For a start, a lot of Afghani people are converting to Christianity.

Abdul Sattar Khawasi, Deputy Secretary for the lower house in the Afghan Parliament, the other day called for the execution of Afghanis who convert from Islam to Christianity.

This followed a video broadcast by an Afghan television network, Noorin TV, showing Christian men being baptised and praying in the Farsi language.

The broadcast also prompted protests by students at Kabul University, who, in the hundreds, shouted threats of death to Christians.

Many national Christians are now in hiding, fearful of execution. Under government pressure, some Afghans have reportedly revealed names and locations of Christian converts.

This is the same government for which soldiers like Sappers Smith and Moerland are losing their lives.

* * *

Here in Australia, a group calling itself “Set My People Free” has been set up — a network of individuals, churches and organisations trying to work for the freedom of religious converts to live and practice their faith in their home countries.

It has organised what it calls a “worldwide protest march” on August 28, 2010 in Sydney.

It also has an online petition campaign.

Its coordinator is a Dr. Ramsis Gayed, who quotes Martin Luther King Junior, who apparently said, “In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.”

* * *

So should readers of this blog sign such a petition?  Should they march on August 28?

It’s up to you.

The petition can be accessed at  : www.petitiononline.com/2010smpf/petition.html